This is a story of two very different pours from the same batch. TL;DR: the first bottle was foamy and very carbonated, the second was normal, but the first bottle went flat and was cloudy, while the second bottle was within normal range for head, carbonation, and clarity.
The Story: I poured a bottle for a friend into a hand-rinsed, standard pint glass, pouring the first half down the side and the second half down the middle, being careful not to disturb or pour the lees. When I opened it, I noticed some bubbling in the neck, but no gusher. The beer was fairly foamy, very bubbly, with a head that dissipated very quickly.
I immediately opened a second bottle for myself, noticed the same bubbling, but got sidetracked and did not pour for about 10 minutes. Same type of glass and pouring technique. However, my beer had a nice head, that lasted a little while, and carbonation was normal.
When were about halfway through both beers at the same time, and noticed that my friend's beer had gone sort of flat with no lacing and was a little cloudy, while mine was still carbonated, and was pretty clear (you could see through it when held up to light). (By the way, the beer was somewhat green, and hopefully will benefit from more time in the bottle.)
My Question: Is this a sign of improper carbonation, or could it be due to inadequate mixing in the fermenter before I bottled? I.e., maybe I racked too much beer into bottles and should have left more in the fermenter. Or maybe something different? I have never had bottles that varied from bottle to bottle before.
Recipe ingredients and process:
- Belgian pale ale - all-grain: 95% Belgian pale malt, and 5% Belgian biscuit;
- Safbrew T-58 yeast, properly rehydrated, with est. cell counts per Mr Malty's calculator.
- OG: 1.050 --> FG: 1.010;
- fermented in primary 15 days at 67°F; no secondary;
- I did not cold crash or use any finings, but I gingerly moved the fermenter to the counter where I was bottling about two hours before bottling;
- bottled straight from fermenter, and primed with exactly one Cooper's carbonation drop per bottle;
- I did not feel like I was greedy about bottling too much beer, and I recall leaving quite a bit in the fermenter to avoid sediment, even pouring out the last bottle instead of capping;
- bottle conditioned for 14 days at 70-72°F and another six days at 67°F, both in the same sealed case box.